'Platinum' Scott shooting models circa 1999 Recently a friend pointed out a fascinating cultural observation. With the excessive popularity of user generated content websites such as YouTube – the standards of acceptance in terms of image quality are shifting – and shifting fast. Now what this means is that the general public is now more than happy to watch pixilated video with slightly out-of-synch dialog as long as it is current. It would seem that the immediacy of content – in other words the lack of downtime from shooting to publication has trumped quality.
This seismic shift in attitude has far reaching implications into all the corners of the art world. From photography to writing to film – everything is changing. Gone are the days when the images that made it to publication were solely from professionals. The contemporary art world and the land of media has been turned inside out.
The YouTube example is a fine place to start. It would seem that there is some sort of fork in the road at the moment when it comes to images. HD TV is all the rage, Blue Ray DVD’s are available in gas stations and amateur digital camera’s now have pro level resolution. On one hand, quality is the rage, and the ability for Joe Shmo to capture and create high quality images is easier then ever. But then on the other hand, even with those advances in quality, YouTube, with its fuzzy images is more popular then ever.
Perhaps it’s the recent popularity in reality TV that has spurred on this revolution. We have become accustomed to shaky hand-held camera shots where the exposure goes out of balance from time to time and the mic sneaks into picture every now and again. This lack of professional quality finish somehow adds a sense of realism – or reality if you well. No matter how absurd the action is in front of the camera, as long as the whole production has an amateur feel to it – people buy it.
But what’s really interesting is how that tack has crept into other sections of the media. Now we have the fake reality shows like The Office, Arrested Development and you can see it in the cinematography in shows like 24 and CSI. Don’t get me wrong, these shows are great – ahead of their time even (except for CSI – this is all getting a bit Murder She Wrote for my tastes… but I digress). People want the unscripted, the warts and all. Intimacy over quality.
But it’s not just TV or the internet. Photography is now shifting too. and this shift has less to do with cameras and more to do with cell phones. In the space of 10 years digital cameras went from being poor quality and overpriced to coming standard with every cell phone sold on the planet. The camera phone is everywhere and has become a legitimate tool for creating art. You see images on the news, on the net, in magazines all shot on camera phones. People love the images, they’re ultra current, they have that feel of reality and most frightening of all – the quality is terrible.
What about writing? The internet has paved the way for everyone to have a space to tell their story. I read recently the number of blogs that are started every day and the number was huge! You have to love the irony – me blogging about this… I think it’s great, everyone does have a story and the right to tell it. The next great writer isn’t going to be discovered from a creative writing course – they are going to emerge from the internet, be self published and totally independent. It’s a great time to be a wordsmith the venues for getting content out to the public are more pervasive then ever. But, you know there was a ‘but’ coming… what’s happening to the English language is what scares me.
TXT-speak is slowly creeping into the ‘literary’ world. GR8, CU L8R, LOL and so on are now permeating the English language. Is Shakespeare rolling in his grave or is it just the sign of the times? That I don’t know. But can you see Kerouac putting a happy face at the end of an email? Neither can I.
So in a nutshell at this moment in time – the general public is happy with images of dreadful quality, as long as they are fresh. They want to have their say on, whatever they want to have their say on and they are happy to say it in the most dumbed-down version of the English language we’ve yet seen.
Is this the end of art? Is this all a sign of the aesthetic apocalypse? I’m happy to say that I don’t think so. I think it’s a transitional moment in time. The ideas are great, but the technology is lagging behind. In a few years when the technology allows for HD quality clips on YouTube and the camera phone to have the imaging quality of a Digi SLR then it will truly be exciting times. I guess until then we are going to have to put up with a bit of camera shake.
As for the fate of language? Well the cream will always rise to the top, which has been true since the time of the masters and will become more and more relevant as we go along. Yes the vat of milk is getting pretty vast, but with more people writing and hopefully more people reading. The diamonds will always be found amongst the rough…
Until then, CU L8R
~Scott
This seismic shift in attitude has far reaching implications into all the corners of the art world. From photography to writing to film – everything is changing. Gone are the days when the images that made it to publication were solely from professionals. The contemporary art world and the land of media has been turned inside out.
The YouTube example is a fine place to start. It would seem that there is some sort of fork in the road at the moment when it comes to images. HD TV is all the rage, Blue Ray DVD’s are available in gas stations and amateur digital camera’s now have pro level resolution. On one hand, quality is the rage, and the ability for Joe Shmo to capture and create high quality images is easier then ever. But then on the other hand, even with those advances in quality, YouTube, with its fuzzy images is more popular then ever.
Perhaps it’s the recent popularity in reality TV that has spurred on this revolution. We have become accustomed to shaky hand-held camera shots where the exposure goes out of balance from time to time and the mic sneaks into picture every now and again. This lack of professional quality finish somehow adds a sense of realism – or reality if you well. No matter how absurd the action is in front of the camera, as long as the whole production has an amateur feel to it – people buy it.
But what’s really interesting is how that tack has crept into other sections of the media. Now we have the fake reality shows like The Office, Arrested Development and you can see it in the cinematography in shows like 24 and CSI. Don’t get me wrong, these shows are great – ahead of their time even (except for CSI – this is all getting a bit Murder She Wrote for my tastes… but I digress). People want the unscripted, the warts and all. Intimacy over quality.
But it’s not just TV or the internet. Photography is now shifting too. and this shift has less to do with cameras and more to do with cell phones. In the space of 10 years digital cameras went from being poor quality and overpriced to coming standard with every cell phone sold on the planet. The camera phone is everywhere and has become a legitimate tool for creating art. You see images on the news, on the net, in magazines all shot on camera phones. People love the images, they’re ultra current, they have that feel of reality and most frightening of all – the quality is terrible.
What about writing? The internet has paved the way for everyone to have a space to tell their story. I read recently the number of blogs that are started every day and the number was huge! You have to love the irony – me blogging about this… I think it’s great, everyone does have a story and the right to tell it. The next great writer isn’t going to be discovered from a creative writing course – they are going to emerge from the internet, be self published and totally independent. It’s a great time to be a wordsmith the venues for getting content out to the public are more pervasive then ever. But, you know there was a ‘but’ coming… what’s happening to the English language is what scares me.
TXT-speak is slowly creeping into the ‘literary’ world. GR8, CU L8R, LOL and so on are now permeating the English language. Is Shakespeare rolling in his grave or is it just the sign of the times? That I don’t know. But can you see Kerouac putting a happy face at the end of an email? Neither can I.
So in a nutshell at this moment in time – the general public is happy with images of dreadful quality, as long as they are fresh. They want to have their say on, whatever they want to have their say on and they are happy to say it in the most dumbed-down version of the English language we’ve yet seen.
Is this the end of art? Is this all a sign of the aesthetic apocalypse? I’m happy to say that I don’t think so. I think it’s a transitional moment in time. The ideas are great, but the technology is lagging behind. In a few years when the technology allows for HD quality clips on YouTube and the camera phone to have the imaging quality of a Digi SLR then it will truly be exciting times. I guess until then we are going to have to put up with a bit of camera shake.
As for the fate of language? Well the cream will always rise to the top, which has been true since the time of the masters and will become more and more relevant as we go along. Yes the vat of milk is getting pretty vast, but with more people writing and hopefully more people reading. The diamonds will always be found amongst the rough…
Until then, CU L8R
~Scott
2 comments:
The mind boggles!
I slept through most of my history classes, but I seem to recall that guys like Shakespeare and Chaucer wrote in what was considered pretty low-brow language at the time. Hell, Shakespeare made up half of his own words!
Makes you wonder what prodigee is out there writing the a world changing opus entirely in TXT SPK?
No doubt in a few centuries time kids will be forced to read it, and no doubt they'll have the same 'love' for it as we did for Shakespeare - "Aw man I've got a Kennedy exam tomorrow - that sooo sucks!"
I can't imagine anything worse then having to do a "Kennedy" exam! i don't think I'd do that well to be honest - maybe if it was multiple choice...
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